Sean Dyche has defended his actions following Burnley 1-3 Liverpool.
Following the final whistle, the manager lambasted Jurgen Klopp and engaged in a very public spat with Liverpool’s boss, after the German had been complaining about the ferocity of Burnley’s tackles.
Time and time again, Burnley players were using the wet pitch to slide into tackles from distance, and it ended up in Joe Gomez fracturing his lower left leg.
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The worryingly long list of games Joe Gomez will miss with leg fracture
Dyche though has doubled down, suggesting his players’ tackles were fair and that Daniel Sturridge is a cheat for his second-half dive.
(He ignored the Ashley Westwood dive, of course).
“I was a bit confused,” Dyche said, cited in the Echo.
“There were some excellent tackles. The only one that was questionable was Bardo’s (Phil Bardsley on Alberto Moreno).
“Ben Mee’s was a fantastic tackle and I think Gomez realised that. We send him our best if there is any injury but it wasn’t from a bad tackle.
“Of course football managers can question whatever they like but I don’t think they can reinvent the rules. I don’t think there’s many fans in this country that want to see tackling go out of the game.
“He never even got touched, nothing near him and he went down and actually got a free-kick for it.
“I watched Liverpool as a kid, I was a Liverpool fan growing up, and they had a fantastic side of skill, will, demand and a physical edge.
“Now if that’s gone or you’re saying our lads are not allowed to make those tackles that they did last night and it’s been replaced by cheating then I am absolutely happy to be old fashioned.
“There is no way I would not want to see good, proper professionals, challenging in that manner like ours did last night. No way.”
Dyche should get off his pedestal and worry about keeping his dire team from relegation.
Burnley can’t play football and have stayed in this division for some time via long-balls, battling tactics and everything in between.
We have no issue with this, but for Dyche to act like he’s some kind of saviour of how football should be played, against someone whose football brings genuine joy in Klopp – then he’s barking up the wrong tree.